EVENT :: RFSI Europe 2023 | Regenerative Food Systems Investment

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Regenerative Food Systems Investment Europe

January 25, 2023
Virtual Event

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Regenerative Food Systems Investment Europe

January 25, 2023
Virtual Event

Watch the Replay | Agenda | Speakers | Sponsor

A Virtual Event to Catalyze Investment in Europe’s Regenerative Agriculture & Food Sector

This event was held on January 25, 2023. Thank you to everyone who made it a success!

There’s a diverse and growing ecosystem of organizations working to transform Europe’s agriculture and food system from extractive and degrading to resilient and regenerative. This transition will require a profound mindset shift, deep collaboration, bold innovation … and capital.

The RFSI Europe event explored the critical role capital plays in enabling food system transformation across Europe. Event presentations, Q&A, and pitches connected the dots between the people, organizations, capital, and concepts that will drive lasting change for soil health, food quality, human health, and the planetary well-being.

WATCH THE REPLAY

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RFSI Europe Agenda

Capital is a critical tool in enabling and incentivizing new practices within agricultural and food but capital is only as effective as those who deploy and activate it. The RFSI Europe program will bring a diverse European community together virtually to address the current funding landscape for regenerative agriculture and food in Europe, how investments are facilitating land transformation and building new supply chains, who some of the most innovative solution-builders are today, and how funders and investors are allocating to the space and why.

2-5 pm CET (Europe) • 8-11 am ET (United States)

Day One

2:00 p.m. CET

Welcome

2:08 p.m. CET

Panel: Farmer Perspectives

Koen van Seijen, Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food Podcast; Charles Hunter Smart, Farm and Estate Manager at Bradwell Grove; Alfonso Chico de Guzman, Farmer – La Junquera

What economic opportunities does regenerative agriculture present for farmers?
What are the barriers to adoption and how can different types of capital help alleviate barriers?

2:45 p.m. CET

Framing the Opportunity for Capital

Paul McMahon, SLM Partners

What role can capital play in transitioning land to regenerative at scale?

2:50 p.m. CET

Case Study: Investing in Land and Regenerative Farming

Alfonso Chico de Guzman, Farmer – La Junquera; João Henriques Roseiro, SLM Partners

How can farmers and investors work together to regenerate farmland?

3:15 p.m. CET

Investing in Innovation for Regeneration

Simon Evill, Pelican Ag; Christopher Ramsay, Pelican Ag

What innovations are helping pave the way to a more regenerative agriculture and food system?
What is the role for venture capital enabling these innovations?

3:40 p.m. CET

Pitch Sessions

Kerry Weaver, PhD, FA Bio; Edd Lees, Wildfarmed; Pete Russell, Ooooby

Hear from solution builders activating capital to create regeneration across the system.

4:05 p.m. CET

Case Study: A Systems Approach to Regenerative Transition

Jyoti Banerjee, North Star Transition

How can we build and fund regenerative agriculture and food holistically?
Who needs to be involved?

4:25 p.m. CET

Panel: Funders of Regeneration

Anouk Schoors, The Nest; Anna Van Der Hurd, The A Team Foundation; Karin van Dijk, ASN Impact Investors

Why and how are different types of investors – from philanthropic, to debt, to private equity – allocating capital to this space?
What projects are most appealing to these funders and why?

4:55 p.m. CET

WATCH THE REPLAY

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Speakers

Chris is founder and General Partner at Pelican Ag – the UK’s first venture fund investing in regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems. Before this he grew Pelican Founders as a leading impact investment advisor for sustainable food and ag companies. Working with over 35 companies which received over £350m in subsequent funding. Previously he spent 16 years at Blackrock, Jupiter and CCAM, where he raised $1.8bn for 5 funds. He’s trustee to a 7k acre commercial farm in Scotland. Steers Patagonia’s 1% for the Planet UK initiative and is passionate about gut health.

Christopher RamsayPelican Ag | Founder & General Partner

Simon is a co-founder and General Partner at Pelican Ag – the UK’s first venture fund investing in regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems. Simon is a career veteran of the impact investing field having worked on over 50 capital raising mandates over the past 14 years and helping to raise over £230m for socially and environmentally progressive companies. During this time he also advised institutions in developing their own impact investing strategies. Simon’s passion for food, produce and ecology started in early childhood through his family’s suburban organic vegetable garden – an obsession that continues to this day.

Simon EvillCo-Founder & General Partner | Pelican Ag

Since 2011 Koen has been following the regenerative agriculture and food space when he stumbled upon the carbon sequestration potential of regenerative farming. Under "Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food" he has published more than 180 podcast interviews with impact investors, fund managers, farmers and many others. Regenerating soils and ecosystems by putting money (big and small) to work is the central theme that drives him. He is also manager at the Impact Investor community nonprofit Toniic.

Koen van SeijenInvesting in Regenerative Agriculture and Food Podcast

Charles Hunter SmartFarm and Estate Manager at Bradwell Grove

Alfonso Chico de Guzman is a farmer managing the farm operation of La Junquera Regenerative organic farm in the Southeast of Spain. There they grow a diversity of crops like almonds, pistachios, grains, aromatic plants and vines, mainly in rainfed plots in semi arid climate. Since 2022, he has also operated for SLM partners El Roble farm, also located in South east Spain, growing with regenerative agriculture practices and organic certification olives, almonds and pistachios.

Alfonso Chico de GuzmanLa Junquera | Farmer

Paul McMahon is a co-founder and Managing Partner of SLM Partners, an asset management firm that uses investment capital to scale up regenerative farming and forestry systems. The firm manages funds and separate accounts that invest in organic farming in the USA, forestry and orchard crops in Europe, and mixed farming and carbon projects in Australia. Founded in 2009, and a pioneer of investing in regenerative agriculture, SLM Partners manages almost half a billion dollars in capital. Previously, Paul was Vice-President at Climate Change Capital Ltd, where he led a team developing a strategy for a global farmland fund. Before that, he was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in New York. He has published two books and numerous papers on sustainable food and forestry. Originally from Ireland, Paul holds a PhD from Cambridge University and a BA from University College Dublin. He lives in New York.

Paul McMahonSLM Partners | Co-founder & Managing Partner

João Roseiro is the Agronomy Director, Europe for SLM Partners. He is based in Portugal and is helping SLM Partners develop new investment opportunities in sustainable permanent crops in Portugal and Spain. João is a qualified agronomist with a track record experience in project farm management, investment planning and operations management, particularly in permanent crops and fruit production, with a strong focus on sustainable practices.

João RoseiroSLM Partners | Agronomy Director

Jyoti Banerjee is co-founder of North Star Transition which was set up in 2020 with a mission to develop new approaches to address systemic challenges through radical reframing and holistic collaboration. We create collaboration initiatives designed to increase the impact of our response to humankind’s climate, biodiversity loss and social crises, including wellbeing and health. We aim to accelerate systemic change and run Transition Labs in Wales and Scotland. Jyoti was project director of the team that created the Integrated Reporting (six capitals) movement globally. He has been involved in impact investing for two decades and was an entrepreneur in the tech sector before that. He is also a member of the Wales Net Zero 2035 action group set up by the Welsh Government.

Jyoti BanerjeeCo-Founder | North Star Transition

Kerry is co-founder of FA Bio, a creative and curious entrepreneurial company providing game-changing bio-products for agriculture that can replace chemical inputs. She has over 15 years of experience in sustainable agriculture with a particular focus on crop sustainability and protection. Kerry is hugely passionate about supporting global food security whilst also reducing the impact on our environment by finding sustainable solutions to our agricultural challenges. She holds a PhD in Crop Sustainability and Protection from Imperial College London, for which her research received multiple awards and she went on to publish multiple peer-reviewed research papers. At FA Bio Kerry is responsible for overseeing and leading the Company’s Product Development pipeline including product fermentation, product formulation, field trials, IP and regulatory, as well as supporting the day-to-day activities. She has a strong background in entrepreneurism having received multiple awards for her activities and was selected as one of the 175 faces of Chemistry by The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Kerry Weaver, PhDCOO & Co-Founder | FA Bio

Edd LeesCo-Founder | Wildfarmed

Pete Russell is the founder of Ooooby, an online platform for small farms and food hubs to sell fresh food to local customers. Ooooby’s mission is to put ‘small-scale’ back at the heart of our food systems. More than 80 UK farms and food hubs are now using Ooooby to deliver more than 35,000 local food orders every month.

Pete RussellOoooby | Founder

As developer and fund manager of the ASN Biodiversity Fund, Karin van Dijk has an inspiring mission: helping to scale up business models that strengthen nature instead of depleting it. To this end, she focuses on companies and projects worldwide that add value by working in balance with people and nature. With the commitment and dedication that brought her to the world top as a judoka, but also thanks to in-depth knowledge about sustainability. She studied engineering and technology in sustainable development at TU Delft. Karin is also a member of the investment committee that selects companies for the investment funds of ASN Impact Investors based on their sustainable performance. 'Not only in my private life, but also through my work, I am committed to a more sustainable future to which my daughter and all other children in the world are entitled. ASN Impact Investors is a leading investor in biodiversity, by doing so we want to inspire the financial sector to actively contribute to a liveable and flourishing world."

Karin van DijkASN Impact Investors | Fund Manager of the ASN Biodiversity Fund

Anouk leads The Nest’s allocations that aim at building more resilient food systems. With an engineering & economics degree, an enormous passion for food&ag, and a huge respect for nature, she looks for initiatives and collaborations that can help drive systemic change in our food system. The goal is to marry environmental health, human health and nutritional value by bringing back a holistic view on our food system. Formerly in strategy consulting, with solid experience in both the non-profit world and family advisory, she focuses on bringing the corporate and philanthropic worlds closer together to drive profound shifts.

Anouk SchoorsThe Nest | Investment Manager

Anna Van Der Hurd is the Chief Executive Officer for The A Team Foundation, a U.K. based philanthropic charity that supports food and land projects that are ecologically, economically and socially conscious, contributing to the wider movement that envisions a future where real food is produced by enlightened agriculture and all will have access to it. Anna has guided the Foundation’s strategic direction since its inception in 2009.

Anna Van Der HurdChief Executive Officer | The A Team Foundation

Where Are We Now?

So what does the regenerative agriculture and food funding ecosystem look like in Europe today? We’ve created a map to show you!

Download the map here .

Thank You to Our Sponsors

Presenting Sponsor

Pelican Ag is the UK’s first venture fund powering regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems. Further information.

Supporting Sponsor

SLM Partners is a pioneer in natural real assets investing, established in 2009. Our mission is to scale up regenerative farming and forestry systems. We invest in land and real assets across developed markets, partnering with expert local operators. This year, we are actively investing in European tree crop systems: forestry, orchards and agroforestry. Further information.

BECOME A SPONSOR